FIFTY THIRD ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BRITISH SOCIETY FOR THE HISTORY OF PHARMACY
1 JANUARY - 31 DECEMBER 2020
1. Annual General Meeting 2020
The 53[rd] Annual General Meeting of the Society was held on-line using Zoom software on Monday 19[th] October 2020 at 4pm. It had originally been planned to hold this on Sunday 29[th] March in Salford, Manchester. This and the accompanying annual conference were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
At the AGM the following Trustees (Office Bearers) were confirmed/elected :
| President: | Dr Chris Duffin |
|---|---|
| Vice-President: | Professor Mark Nesbitt |
| Hon. Treasurer: | Mrs Deborah Bishop (to 31stDecember 2020) |
| Ms Selina Hurley (from 1stJanuary 2021) | |
| Hon. Secretary: | Mr Roy Allcorn |
The audited 2019 Annual Accounts were agreed unanimously by the Members who had logged into the meeting.
2. Meetings of Committee
The Committee met twice during the year, one in-person meeting and one online meeting. The members who have served this calendar year are:
| Name | Elected |
|---|---|
| Mr R T Allcorn | (19) |
| Dr S C Anderson | (18) |
| Mr J Betts* | (19) |
| Mrs D Bishop | (19) |
| Dr C Duffin | (19) |
| Dr S Ellis | (20) |
| Mr P G Homan | (18) |
| Ms S Hurley | (20) |
| Ms B Hudson | (19) |
| Dr M H Jepson | (20) |
| Mr M Johnson (co-opted) | (20) |
| Prof M Nesbitt | (20) |
| Ms M Wake | (18) |
| Ms C Walker | (20) |
| Ms K Walker | (18) |
*John Betts stood down from the committee after the February committee meeting having left his role at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Museum. He was replaced there by Catherine Walker who became the Museum Officer at the RPS. Matthew Johnson was co-opted onto the committee and this was agreed at the AGM.
3. Membership
Total membership (including Honorary Members) at 31[st] December was 126.
Movements in the year having been as follows:
New members: 3 / Deceased: 4 / Removed, Lapsed, Resigned: 13
9 members still had subscription payment shortfalls and this matter would be reviewed again in 2021.
4. Meetings/Events
Monday 10[th] February 2020
Our solitary in-person joint evening meeting for the year was held on this date at the UCL School of Pharmacy, Brunswick Square, London, where Dr Emma Spary, Reader in the History of Modern European Knowledge, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge gave us a talk entitled “Suppliers of plant drugs in late seventeenth century Paris: in (and out?) of the pharmacy.”
November 2020
This year, once again, we were unable to arrange a joint meeting between the Society and a School of Pharmacy but of course this would have had to have been cancelled.
Other Events
All other activities planned for 2020 were cancelled. The committee at its October meeting, however, started making plans for organising some on-line discussions and talks for 2021.
5 .
Annual Spring Conference, Salford, Manchester
The decision to cancel this conference was taken with great reluctance in early March but this subsequently turned out to be the right decision with the announcement of a national lockdown from 23[rd] March 2020.
Fortunately, we were able to negotiate that the monies pre-paid for this, less and admin fee, would be transferred to 2021 and a provisional date of 26-28[th] March was set for this even if this would need to be on-line only.
6. Pharmaceutical Historian
Four issues of the Pharmaceutical Historian : An International Journal for the History of Pharmacy (Vol. 50, Nos. 1,2,3,4) were published during the year in March, June, September and December. Stuart Anderson continued with the editorship following the current arrangement to publish the journal on-line (with Ingenta) and thus internationally with the International Society for the History of Pharmacy (ISHP). Printed copies continued to be produced and sent to all members who wanted them.
The December 2020 printed issue, for the first time, made reference to an article which, due to its length, was being published only as on-line content via Ingenta.
The five-year index for 2016-2020 (Volumes 46-50) was compiled in November by Stuart Anderson and a pdf of this was uploaded to the Society’s website. No printed copies were produced.
7. BSHP Gazette
Four issues of the Gazette, our quarterly newsletter, were produced and mailed out to coincide with the four issues of the Pharmaceutical Historian. This continued to try and fulfil the aim of having four pages of news, details of events past and forthcoming and other information including many photographs reproduced in full colour.
8. BSHP Website (www.bshp.org)
Our website was kept updated with, for example, new information about our forthcoming virtual events. A number of changes arising from the AGM were made. This included details of the latest winners of our awards and an amended list of contacts.
9. Awards
Alongside our existing Burnby Memorial Bursary, we continued to offer the Annual Pharmacy History Research Grant with the aim of stimulating research by pharmacy students, pharmacists and pharmacy historians.
The 2020 Bursary had gone to Dr Sebestian Kroupa, University of Cambridge, for his paper: “Medical knowledge in transit between Manila and London: Philippine Materia Medica – Lost and found in translation.”
This year’s winner of the Research Grant was Soh Xi Ken, University of Sunderland, School of Pharmacy, for his project “A holistic view on the evolution of pharmacy education from the 19[th] to 21[st] century: a case study on University of Sunderland’s School of Pharmacy”.
10. Appreciations
The Committee once again wishes to put on record its thanks to the UCL School of Pharmacy for the assistance with facilities the the February meeting and to John Betts and latterly to Catherine Walker at the Museum of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society for their help and support.
Accounts 2020 British Society for the History of Pharmacy
| INCOME | |
|---|---|
| Member subscriptions 2020 | £3,258.39 |
| Member subscriptions 2021 | £748.46 |
| Conference fees | £6,265 |
| Interest | £624.86 |
| Researchgrant | £500.00 |
| Royalties via Royal Pharmaceutical Societyof Great Britain | £5.49 |
| Sundries | £2.42 |
| TOTAL INCOME EXPENDITURE |
£11,404.62 |
| Publications includingPharmaceutical Historianprinting | £2,235.16 |
| Committee Expenses | £21.40 |
| Meetingexpenses - hire of facilities | £92.88 |
| Subscriptions ISHP and BSHM | £266.93 |
| Public liabilityinsurance | £127.53 |
| Association Enterprises Services | £1,637.74 |
| Conference 2020payment to venue | £4,519.55 |
| Conference refunds | £3,915 |
| Researchgrants | £1,000 |
| Sundries | £172.08 |
| TOTAL EXPENDITURE | £13,988.27 |
| DEFICIT INVESTMENT CAF Shawbrook deposit CURRENT ASSESTS Bank account as of 31/12/2020 (includes prepay for 2021) Virgin Money CAF Shawbrook deposit Total |
-£2,583.65 45,000 1,471 3115.38 45,000 49,586 |